[ExI] Effectiveness of democracy as a result of selection bias

[Henrique Moraes Machado]

Stathis Papaioannou>>> addressing demand. A radical way to do this would be 
to have direct
>>> control of your brain so that you can modify your desires and second
>>> order desires. If I have $1000 I want $2000; but if instead of going
>>> to the trouble getting the extra thousand I could modify my mind so
>>> that I could be in every way *just as satisfied* with the thousand I
>>> already have, why wouldn't I? The end result would be that I adjust my
>>> mind so that I am motivated to do only those things which I consider
>>> of intrinsic worth, or those things which I think I *ought* to
>>> consider of intrinsic worth.

Me>> So... the post-humanism will make us buddhists? :-)

Stathis Papaioannou> It has parallels with Buddhism; this hadn't occurred to 
me, thank-you.
> I suppose a difference is that Buddhism sees desire as bad in itself
> and something to be relinquished, whereas the posthumanist would deal
> with the problem by adjusting desire so that it is consistent with
> what is felt to be intrinsically good and achievable. Also, the
> posthuman will be able to achieve nirvana by flicking a switch in his
> head rather than donning saffron robes and living as an ascetic, which
> I think the Buddhists might regard that as cheating.

I also don't like this desire adjustment. If we tame our desires to only 
what's achievable or perceived as good (who decides what´s good, by the 
way?), to me it's the perfect recipe for stagnation.